Auto Innovators: Q2 brought ‘meaningful improvement’ to U.S. EV market
The latest electric vehicle (EV) data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) shows that 161 electric car, utility vehicle, pickup truck, and van models were available for sale in the U.S. in Q2 2026, with EV sales rebounding quarter over quarter.
While sales remained down year over year, EVs represented 7.9% of new U.S. light-duty vehicle sales in Q2 2026, up 1.6 percentage points from Q1 and marking the first sequential gain since Q3 2025, according to the “Get Connected Electric Vehicle Report Q2 2026.”
The report summarizes EV sales and purchasing trends nationwide, and features a breakdown of light-duty market share by powertrain (2016-2026) and an analysis of registered EVs and charging infrastructure. It also highlights how China built a global EV competitive advantage based on research and analysis from the Center for Automotive Research.
Light trucks made up 81% of Q2 EV sales, down from 86% in Q1, as passenger car and van sales grew.
Compared to Q2 2025, EV market share fell 1.6 percentage points, and EV sales volume decreased 15%, or roughly 56,200 vehicles. Overall, new U.S. light-duty vehicle sales across all powertrains increased 2%.
Through the first half of 2026, automakers sold 556,477 EVs, representing 7.1% of new light-duty vehicle sales. Compared with the first half of 2025, EV sales declined 26.8%, or roughly 204,250 vehicles, and market share declined 2.4 percentage points from 9.5%, according to the report.
EV market share increased in 47 states and the District of Columbia compared with Q1 2026 and declined in four states.
California (21.2%) led the country in EV registrations in Q2, followed by Washington (17.5%) and Nevada (15.4%).
Oregon, Colorado, and the District of Columbia had EV registrations above 10% in Q2 2026.
Year-over-year hybrid vehicle market share grew 4.9 percentage points to 22.2% from 17.3%.
Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle market share fell 3.3 percentage points to 69.9% from 73.2%, resuming its long-term decline after increasing year-over-year in Q1.
Auto Innovators also found that public EV charging infrastructure continued to expand in Q2. The number of publicly available EV charging ports increased by 3.2% from Q1 2026, while the number of EVs in operation increased by 4.3%.
Public charging infrastructure totaled 250,158 ports nationwide, including 177,139 Level 2 ports and 73,019 DC fast charging ports, according to the report.
According to the report, there are roughly 7.8 million EVs on the road, or 2.63% of vehicles in operation, reaching a new high. That’s also about 31 EVs for every public charging port.
A new report from the Center for Automotive Research identifies six reinforcing factors behind China’s broader automotive competitiveness: setup, supply chain, speed, saturation, subsidies, and sales.
China accounted for roughly 70% of global EV production in 2025 and more than 80% of global battery cell production.
The report notes that as China’s domestic EV ecosystem reaches enormous scale, Chinese automakers are increasingly expanding into global markets through exports and overseas production.
In recent months, the U.S. has taken multiple steps to keep Chinese automakers out of the country.
Auto Innovators asked Congress to permanently ban the sale, import, and manufacturing of Chinese connected vehicles, hardware, and software before the 119th Congress concluded earlier this month.
The letter points to multiple pieces of bipartisan legislation already before Congress.
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Featured image credit: FujiCraft/iStock
Graphs provided by Auto Innovators